The Commoner
FEBKUABY, 1910
5"
C. W. Bryan a Candi
date for Governor
Mayor Charles W. Bryan of Lincoln lias ac
cepted a filing made in his behalf by Nebraska
democrats who petitioned him to become a can
didate for governor at the primaries April 18.
Mayor Bryan will base his candidacy upon the
following platform:
Regarding a candidate for public office as in
the attitude of a workman who offers his ser-.
vices to an employer, I deem it right to submit
to the democrats of Nebraska at this time a
brief statement of my views as to matters of
public interest, in order that none may bo in
doubt regarding the service I shall attempt to
give to my employers the people of Nebraska
in event that I shall be nominated and elected
to the office of governor.
As touching national affairs and the national
democratic administration, I yield first place, to
no man in approval of the great works accom
plished by President Wilson and the democratic
congress, nor in advocacy of the renomination
and re-election of President Wilson. The pend
ing legislation in favor of giving independence
to the people of the Philippines, and the certain
early success of the administration's rural
credits bill, mark the most faithful redemption
of all the legislative pledges made to the people
of the nation by the Baltimore convention, and
entitle the administration and the democratic
congress to the unreserved approval of the
country.
In the hour when our country is threatened
by a foe more dangerous than it has ever en
countered -the militaristic foe I take my place
with the friends of honorable peace and against
the friends of war, and declare unalterable op
position to any and all military programs calcu
lated fo promote the profits of the makers of
war munitions at the expense of the peace and
prosperity of the vast majority of the people.
As touching matters ol particular moment to
the people of our own .qtate, I desire to be fairly
understood as favoring legislation to the follow
ing specific ends:'
1. To curtail the arbitrary powers of the state
railway commission, so that the jpeople who con
tribute to the profits of the great telephone cor
porations may not be compelled to pay ex
orbitant rentals and tolls for telephone service.
I favor legislation which will limit the revenues
of the great telephone corporation to a reason
able profit on the capital stock of such corpora
tion after all moisture shall have been squeezed
therefrom.
2. To assist in every way possible the people
of Gosper, Phelps and Kearney counties to se
cure government aid in their efforts to utilize
the flood waters of the Platte river to supple
ment the rainfall, thereby making certain profit
able returns to the agriculturists of that section
of tho state.
3. To give the people of the metropolitan city
of Omaha the right to establish a municipal
lighting plant, by the aid of which they might
be annually saving more than a quarter million
dollars now unjustly collected from them above
a reasonable rate by the corporation which owns
the private electric plant in that city.
4. To prevent the fire insurance combine from
destroying competition in the writing of fire in
surance policies which would lay an additional
burden upon the policy holders in Nebraska of
upwards of three quarters of a million dollars
annually.
6. To encourage the building of good public
highways throughout Nebraska.
6. To encourage the building of electric inter
urban railways.
7. To provide a plan under which the people
of Nebraska towns, counties, districts, or the
state may build and operate water-power plants
on the rivers of the state for the purpose of gen
erating electric energy at low cost and carrying
it to the homes of the people on the farms as
well as in the towns.
, A study of the efforts of the people to secure
legislation for the common welfare, and contrary
to the desires of the public-service corporations,
convinces me that such efforts will be futile in
whole or in part as long as the organized liquor
interests shall be permitted to have as large a
hand as they have heretofore had in controlling
tho actions of our legislatures. Experience in
our own and other states has convinced me that
thero is one way, and only one way, to put tho
organized liquor interests out of tho legislative
business in this state, and that way lies In tho
direction of putting the saloon out of business
altogether. In my campaign for tho democratic
nomination for governor I desire it to bo under
stood that if nominated and elected, I shall feel
it my duty to lend all possible influence to tho
making and execution of laws for the enforce
ment of all tho provisions of the pending consti
tutional amendment, provided the people shall
vote to make it a part of tho state constitution.
CIIAS. W. BRYAN.
Miami, Florida, Feb. 3, 1910. C. W. Bryan,
Lincoln, Nebr. I am very much gratified to
learn that you have consented to enter tho dem
ocratic primary as candidate for governor. I am
in position to know of your devotion to every
reform for which progressive democracy stands,
and shall gladly avail myself of this opportunity
to repay part of my obligation to you for your
unselfish labors during the past twenty years.
Call upon me for any service that I can render.
W. J. BRYAN.
Prohibition in Nebraska
Prohibition will enter into tho campaign In
Nebraska this year and will be tho leading issue
in the democratic primary, as well as at tho elec
tion. Under tho initiative and referendum It is
possible to submit a proposition to the people
upon its merits without regard to its connection
with parties, but In Nebraska the liquor interests
have interfered in politics to such an extent that
it is not' possible to Ignore the efforts which they
are now making to nominate candidates for
office who will, if elected, obey the liquor inter
ests rather than the people.
Experience has shown, in other states as well
as in Nebraska, that those who profit by the
manufacture and sale, of liquor have no regard
for a popular vote and no respect for the wishes
of the majority. If the prohibition amendment
carries in Nebraska, it will be necessary to put
it into force by legislative enactments and
through administrative officials. A wet legisla
ture would, as far aB it could, hamper the en
forcement of the law and impair the value of
the victory at the polls. If the people of Ne
braska want prohibition it is fair to assume that
they want a legislature and state officers in
harmony with prohibition and willing to make
the amendment effective.
The only way to secure prohibition officials
is to nominate candidates who will openly pledge
themselves to prohibition. A man who refuses
to pledge himself to prohibition may be counted
as opposing it, because it is tho friends of the
liquor traffic, not its enemies, who seek the cov
er of darkness and resort to evasion.
In Nebraska, as in every other state where the
liquor question is an issue, the party organiza
tion MUST BE ON ONE SIDE OR THE OTHER;
it can not be neutral. The liquor interests have
practically controlled the state democratic or
ganization since 1910, and they have tried to
ostracize every one who would not worship a
beer barrel.
The fightmust be made some time to wrest
the control from those whose sympathies are
with the liquor Interests, and there is a double
reason for making the fight at this time. Let the
line be drawn and let the victory be a decisive
one. If the majority of the democrats who vote
at the primaries are with the liquor Interests,
they are entitled to the candidates and to the
influence of the party's organization. If a ma
jority of the democrats favor prohibition, who
will dispute their right to direct the party's pol
icy and control the organization?
There need be no sundering of tho ties of
friendship among those who b.ave co-operated on
other Issues. All that Is necessary is that each
one respect the other's rights and to follow his
conscience and his judgment. Prohibition Is
coming; no one acquainted with the signs of the
times will doubt it, and it is coming to Nebraska
as well as elsewhere. The sooner the victory is
won, the sooner will discord disappear.
The liquor traffic is an admitted evil and ev
ery evil Is to the body politic what a splinter is
to the finger; it is a foreign substance, and there
will be festering and irritation until it is re
moved. The democrats of Nebraska, who have
won such an enviable .position as pioneers in
economic reforms, should not lie found on the
wrong side In this now contest, which embodies
a moral as well as an economic principle a
greater contest than any In which they have
heretofore engaged. On which side, democrats?
W. J. BRYAN.
NEBRASKA POLITICS
Villa Serena, Miami, Florida, Jan. 29,4910,
Charles W. Bryan,
Lincoln, Neb.
My dear Brother:
I notice In one of tho Lincoln papers that tho
liquor interests are bringing out their candi
dates for tho legislature in both parties. That
was to bo expected. They havo no politics, but
thoy insist on running politics wherever they are
permitted to do so. Their Insolence only hastens
the day of their fall. The voters of Nebraska
only need to bo Informed and then they will re
pudiate tho wholo saloon-picked, brewery
branded crowd, and a month's campaign will en
able tho temperance forces to get the facts be
fore tho public. I havo reserved tho time from
March 20 until tho primaries to aid in this work.
I know of no greater servlco that I can render
to tho people of Nebraska at this time In return
for their confidenco and support.
I hope anti-saloon democrats will file for ev
ery state and legislative office, but if tho ticket
is not, for any reason, complete, the fight will bo
made for those who do file. The people are en
titled to officials who are not under obligation
to tho liquor dealers. Tho democratic party has
defied tho other special interests It must not
bo enslaved by this, the most sordid and cor
rupting of them all.
Yours truly,
W. J. BRYAN.
THE "8CAREDNE8B" PROGRAM
An eminent divine has suggested that the
word "scarodness" should be substituted for the
word "preparedness" in describing the Presi
dent's program. It Is a very apt suggestion and
tho change' is hereby made.
Will the people allow themselves to b6
SCARED Into a military program which chal
lenges Christian civilization and creates a men
ace far GREATER and MORE IMMEDIATE
than the danger against which it is supposed to
protect?
WHY NOT TRY WORK?
The Army and Navy experts insist that the
people should spend a part of each year in mil
itary training; why not leverse the rule and
have the Army and Navy experts spend a part of
each year working? About two months a year
of good, hard work on the farm or in the fac
tory, at ordinary wages, would cure them of
their extravagant Ideas and give them some
sympathy with the masses.
ANOTHER SHINING MARK
Now that Dr. Harry A. Garfield, president of
Williams college, son of a man wha was a gen
eral in the Civil war and president of tho United
States, has spoken out' against the increase in
appropriations for army and navy, wo shall hear
that ho is a mollycoddle, a pacifist and non-resistant,
a man lacking in patriotism one of
those whom Mr. Roosevelt would appoint to do
menial work for tho army.
MR. BRYAN'S PROHIBITION SPEECH
Mr. Bryan's prohibition speech, following the
line of argument presented by him in Ohio last
fall, has been made a senate document by re
quest of Senator Shepard of Texas. It is Docu
ment 254, Sixty-fourth Congress, First Session.
So long as the supply lasts, anyone desiring a
copy can obtain it by application to his senator
or member of congress.
The philosophy of scaredness would lead us
into greater perils than those employed by pre
paredness advocates to frighten the money out
of the pockets of the people.
Were half the power, that fills the world with
terror.
Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and
courts, j.
Given; to redeem the human mind from error,
There were no need of arsenals and forts.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. :
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